She doesn't seem to understand that the 'ban' is on dressing up not on books. Maybe she should work on developing her reading and comprehension skills.

The Exlet's school seem to have knocked the dressing up part on the head. I'm quietly relieved

I co-parent Teardroplet 50/50 with my ex- - I'm quietly relieved this day has fallen on a day where I'm not in charge of her

These people should read more books and develop their imagination instead of just blaming the lazy parents. I reckon that some parents have reckoned that dressing up can be the first step of the slippery slope to get children into crossdressing and then gender-fluidity. It's part of the vast woke conspiracy FFS.

Could it be parents are sick of dragging out the same old costumes?

I read plenty of books as a child but I'm not sure I'd have wanted to dress up as any of the characters in them. What would have been the point?

It's fun!

Plus it is very important parents are engaged in their children's education, through the medium of wondering where the hell they're going to get a costume from

The Minglet's schools have usually said you can dress up if you donate a pound to charity. Some kids love it, others don't. We used to ask the Minglet if wanted to do it, and he would invariably decline the offer.

Some kids love it, others don't.

Some ask if they get a pound if they dress down enough?

"do you want to do this or not?" (said with minimal enthusiasm)

"We could, I suppose, cobble something together for you, but it might not look very good and you could end up a laughing stock"

genius!

Allsopp seemed positively hostile to reading - I see she's dyslexic. I wonder was she never introduced to the joys of listening to books if for any reason you can't consume them off the page. Entering into someone else's experience, into a different place and time, exercises different bits of the imagination from the showing-off performance of dressing up.

I wonder was she never introduced to the joys of listening to books if for any reason you can't consume them off the page.

She could try listening to audiobooks if she borrowed her kids' iPads -- oh, wait.

Semi-compulsory dressing up is not the same as reading or looking at a book. It's a fancy dress competition.

Good in its own way, but not the same.

Not that good for kids with less well off/time poor/single parents

I'm only a single parent 50% of the time, and even that is knackering and relentless, however much fun Teardroplet is - and she's more fun than Tom Fun and Derek

Doesn't the "getting all excited about dressing up" bit interfere with the "calming down enough to read something interesting" goal?